Simon Belmont (シモン・ベルモンド, Simon Belmondo) is one of the main characters that appears in the Castlevania franchise. Being the protagonist of the first few games and having his battle against Dracula chronicled the most in games out of all the protagonists, he is often considered the face of the franchise next to Dracula and Alucard, and has made several appearances outside of the series.

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Official artwork of Simon Belmont from Castlevania Chronicles. Some elements of this design are featured in Ultimate.

Simon Belmont is widely considered to be an icon of gaming, as he was one of the earliest mascots for the Nintendo Entertainment System and among the most recognizable video game characters from that era. He shares this status alongside characters like Nintendo’s Link and Samus Aran and Capcom’s Mega Man. His original barbarian-esque design and Vampire Killer are the most recognizable aspects out of all of his iterations, and the pioneering attributes of the Belmont clan such as the “Belmont strut,” stilted jumping, delayed whip attacks, and immense knockback when taking damage all make his early home games among the most challenging in the console’s library.

Simon hails from the Belmont clan, a bloodline of vampire hunters with immense power that have engaged in combat against Count Dracula for centuries. Wielding the sacred whip, Vampire Killer, he storms Dracula's Castle in 1691 defeating several of his minions and the Count himself. Simon's story has been retold through multiple games, with varying differences. The original story, as depicted in the manuals for the original game, Vampire Killer, and the opening cinematics of Castlevania Chronicles, Simon heads to the castle after Dracula was resurrected by an evil cult on the evening of April 15, 1691 (Easter Sunday of that year), spilling fresh blood and crushing a freshly extracted human heart over the Count's ashes. Simon defeats Dracula in the castle keep, and watches from a distance as the castle collapses, bringing with him a set of wounds that would seemingly not heal. The arcade game Haunted Castle portrays Simon as being a newlywed man who has his wife, Serena, taken away by Dracula, forcing him to venture onward. Vampire Killer for the MSX2 is a non-linear title that has him traveling around the castle utilizing many weapons. Super Castlevania IV for the SNES introduces a powerful omnidirectional whip capable of striking in eight directions, which would be retained in future Castlevania games. Castlevania Chronicles, initially made for the Sharp X68000 and adapted to the PlayStation, is a more standard retelling of the original game, redesigning many of the original stages and enemies. His appearance has varied notably, often alternating between a more rugged blonde-haired warrior in brown armor that resembles Conan the Barbarian and a more effeminate red-haired design with darker clothing.

During the events of Castlevania Judgment, Simon feels uncertainty about whether he was able to defeat Dracula on his own or if it was his reliance on the Vampire Killer whip. He is soon pulled into the Time Rift by a mysterious timetraveller named Aeon, who is working to stop the machinations of Galamoth and the Time Reaper. Due to the nature of the Time Rift, pulling other figures from the series timeline, Simon encounters the four heroes from Castlevania III, including his ancestor Trevor. After defeating Trevor, Simon begins to realize that his ability to defeat Dracula came from his own strength. This revelation is enough for Simon to help the other heroes in their battle against the Time Reaper. Simon returns to his own time afterwards.

Seven years after his original adventure, Simon's wounds received during the battle remain unhealed. While visiting the cemetery of his clan, Simon encounters a gypsy woman who tells that he must resurrect Dracula by gathering his five body parts and destroy them in order to break the curse he had received, setting off the events of Castlevania II: Simon's Quest. Afterwards, he buries Dracula's remains and is praised as a hero. Simon would later settle down and start a family with a member of the Belnades clan, soon leading to the birth of his grandson, Juste, and his great-great grandson Richter. Simon would be the one to inspire Juste's best friend, Maxim Kischine, to gather the remains of Dracula during a training session in 1748, leading to the events of Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance. Simon makes a cameo appearance as a secret playable character in this same game through the use of a cheat code, although only in the game's Boss Rush mode.

According to the original American and European continuity, some time after the events of Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, Dracula was again resurrected, this time by his own power. Simon returns to the castle to fight the Count one last time, as seen in the events of Super Castlevania IV. However, this was later retconned by Konami as being a retelling of the original Castlevania.

A different version of Simon Belmont appears in Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate. In this condensed retelling of the NES Castlevania trilogy, Simon is the son (rather than great-great-great-great-great-grandson) of Trevor Belmont, who sets out to avenge his father's death at the hands of Dracula. With the help of the mysterious Alucard (who, in this continuity, is a resurrected Trevor), Simon becomes the first of Clan Belmont to fell Dracula. Visually, he combines the more rugged appearance of the original Simon design with the red hair of the redesign, and wields a leather whip much like the ones both the original Simon and Trevor initially had in the NES Castlevania games.

Simon was confirmed to appear in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as a playable fighter on August 8, 2018 during the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Direct. His appearance takes inspiration from the NES Castlevania games with some minor tidbits taken from Harmony of Despair.[1] He also borrows attacks such as the Leap Kick and Uppercut from later protagonists in the series such as Richter Belmont. With his wide array of projectiles and a long disjointed range courtesy of his whip, the Vampire Killer, Simon plays as a powerful zoning fighter who can keep enemies at a distance. However, his recovery is among the weakest in the game due to his low air speed and linear Uppercut, and so he mostly depends on his whip as a tether recovery.

The character’s inclusion was largely facilitated by the results of the Super Smash Bros. Fighter Ballot, as series director Masahiro Sakurai has stated in a Famitsu interview that the Castlevania series was highly requested in the poll. When it came time to add fighters, he says his options were limited. He assumed lot of players would be more familiar with Alucard, being the protagonist of the acclaimed Symphony of the Night, but he ultimately chose Simon and Richter as that was what fans would have preferred even if they were unaffiliated with later games in the franchise.[2]

Simon's appearance in Ultimate is the second time he has appeared in shared media with Mega Man and Pit (along with cameos from other classic characters such as Link and Donkey Kong) with his first appearance being alongside the two in the 1980s cartoon Captain N: The Game Master.

Ultimate marks the first shared appearance of Simon and Samus Aran. They both made appearances as members of the main cast in Captain N, but Simon appeared exclusively in the cartoon show and Samus appeared exclusively in the comic books.

He also appeared alongside Snake and Bomberman in DreamMix TV World Fighters, and later in a special update for Super Bomberman R.

Simon and Richter are the second and third characters to represent Konami, the first being Snake since Brawl.

Simon is one of four playable characters in Smash to have appeared in an M-rated game, the other three being Snake, Bayonetta, and Joker.

Although Simon's name is the same between Japanese and English, the announcer pronounces it differently between regions: the English version pronounces it as "Sai-min", while the Japanese version pronounces it "Shi-moan".